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Theme

The Purpose

Borneo Hornbill Festival aims to be more than a cultural platform. We emphasize on the acquisition of knowledge as a way of gaining self confidence.

The Method

The world today is filled with information whether in printed form, public broadcasting or digital & electronic dissemination. The resource center is unlimited and given enough time, we trust that everyone has equal opportunity to absorb and apply the knowledge hence giving them the advantage. Knowing what to say and when to say it gives a person confidence and empowerment. This is the essential skill in our challenging working environment today. Knowledge is indeed power.

The Beginning

Every year, we apply a suitable theme for the participants to study and get comfortable with. Since the ethnic pageant is a culture based contest, it is natural that our initial focus was on culture and tourism. A rich culture has the potential to boost tourism by incorporating the spectrum of different ethnic traditions and heritage.

Culture is itself a tourism product and creativity increases its potential, making it the biggest attraction for the community and country. It can subsequently be broken down to specialized products such as fabric, clothing, fashion, food, beverages, dance, folklore, arts, crafts, traditional games and sports.

The theme for BHF 2014 was "Biodiversity and Cultural Diversity".

As we progress through the years, we become more aware of the changes within our natural environment and how the absence of many things are affecting our cultural survival. We no longer have the luxury of nature's abundance. The natives have coexisted with nature since anyone can remember. Some elements of nature are incorporated to our beliefs and way of life. However, we face difficult times ahead because of various threats to nature as we can see today. Threats to biodiversity become threats to cultural diversity. Traditional knowledge becomes more scarce as it is replaced by modern solutions. Due to limited resources, what used to be natural is now artificial.

The natives used to take only what they need but today we are motivated by greed.

It's time to take heed.

2015 Audition theme: Impact of Culture on Economy.
The audition for Borneo Hornbill Festival's Ethnic Pageant 2015 focused on the impact of culture on the economy of those who conserve, preserve, uphold, practice and promote at least one aspect of culture, tradition and heritage in their daily lives. Read more...